The Portland Trail Blazers received some bad news concerning their start point guard, Damian Lillard. He will be sidelined for at least 10 days as he deals with the abdominal injury that has been plaguing him since he suited up for Team USA over the during the NBA offseason.
His being sideline could not have come at a worse time. The team had lost three games in a row when it was announced that he would miss at least 10 days. Portland was able to defeat the Detroit Pistons in their first game without him, but the game on Thursday night was downright embarrassing.
The Trail Blazers had their doors blown off by the San Antonio Spurs, who entered the game six games under the .500 mark. The Trail Blazers lost 114-83 at the Moda Center and head coach Chauncey Billups was not happy with the team’s performance.
“My biggest concern, I think, at the moment, is I want us to compete harder, man. I want us to compete harder,” Billups said. “I want us to be competitive in every game. And I don’t feel like every night we do that. We don’t. And it concerns me. And I’ve felt that way in a lot of our wins. This is not just after a loss, me saying this.”
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This has been a troubling trend for the Trail Blazers this season. This is at least the third time that Billups has publicly questioned his team’s effort in a game, as he did it following a loss while visiting the LA Clipper back on October 25th and a loss at the Denver Nuggets on November 14th.
They lost to the Clippers by 30, Nuggets by 29 and the Spurs by 31 last night. Billups was hired, in part, to help the team turn around their performance on the defensive side of the ball. He has not yet had much of a positive impact, as Portland is 28th in defensive rating according to Basketball-Reference.
“We didn’t have enough personal pride defensively in the game tonight,” Billups said.
The Spurs took full advantage of the lack of urgency on defense from Portland, knocking down 11 3-pointers in the first half and 14 in the game. On the season, San Antonio is making only 9.9 3-pointers per game, the least in the league as they are the only team in the league that is not making double-digit amounts of 3-pointers per game.
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They need to find some pride and fast if they are going to stop this sinking ship. Luckily for them, six of their next seven games are at home, where they are 10-2 on the season. But, the losses could start racking up quickly as Portland is playing teams that are currently at or above the .500 mark for eight consecutive games.
Without Damian Lillard, Nassir Little and possibly Anfernee Simons, who sprained his ankle against the Spurs, things could quickly spiral out of control for Billups and the Portland Trail Blazers.
